British daily; Pakistan backs NaMo as India’s next premier

April 24, 2014 11:05 am

Agencies, London
Pakistan backs Narendra Modi as India’s next Prime Minister, says a British daily adding that Islamabad believes the man accused of permitting the 2002 post-Godhra violence is ‘the strong leader with whom it needs to negotiate peace’. ‘Pakistan wants the controversial Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi to become India’s next prime minister because it believes he will provide the strong leadership necessary for peace talks,’ The Telegraph said quoting Pakistani diplomats.

Pakistan’s army also favours peace with India ‘to allow it to focus on fighting the Taliban insurgency,’ the daily reported. Islamabad’s unexpected approval marks an extraordinary turnaround for the Gujarat chief minister, Telegraph correspondents Dean Nelson, and Javed Siddiq wrote in the dispatch, pointing out that the BJP leader until very recently was regarded as ‘an international pariah.’

In an interview with The Telegraph last month, Sartaj Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s trusted aide on foreign affairs, conceded only that his government was willing to ‘deal with’ Mr Modi if he is elected in India’s nine-stage general election, which ends next month. But as Mr Modi’s campaign gathers momentum, senior Pakistani officials have now told The Telegraph that not only did they believe (that) he will be India’s next prime minister but that he is, in fact, Islamabad’s ‘preferred’ choice.